Santa Cruz County escapes major damage as storms moved north

SANTA CRUZ -- Authorities spent Monday assessing the aftermath of a series of storms that battered Northern California over the past week, and Santa Cruz County -- with one exception -- seems to have escaped widespread damage.

Downed trees and power lines triggered several local road closures, with most reopened after short delays. But a big washout along Vine Hill Road in Scotts Valley will be around for the foreseeable future, and officials say they hope to know more Tuesday about whether the road could be opened while they weigh a permanent fix.

"We're definitely looking at whether we can do an in-house job versus taking it out to a contractor," county Public Works Director John Presleigh said. "We want to fast-track this one."

The storms brought high wind and flash flood warnings, but ended up pounding the northern San Francisco Bay Area much more severely. Still, the San Lorenzo Valley saw especially heavy rain, and Las Cumbres Peak recorded nearly 13 inches, according to the National Weather Service. More rain could be on the way Tuesday.

But the rain stopped short of causing the kind of flooding some feared. While the Pajaro River never came close to topping its banks, the San Lorenzo River crested less than 2 feet below its 18-foot flood level.

"We were very fortunate," said Paul Horvat, the county's emergency manager, who closely monitored river levels. "It stopped raining just in time."

As residents cleared brush and branches after the deluge, several hundred remained without power Monday, with PG&E working throughout the day to turn the lights back on. At one point over the weekend, PG&E pulled its beleaguered crews from the Santa Cruz Mountains due to the danger posed by high winds.

The Vine Hill washout adds to the county's growing list of roads made impassible or reduced to one lane by severe weather. The list still includes the total closure of Nelson Road in Scotts Valley, which was blocked by a storm-related rockslide in March 2011 and is slated to be repaired in 2013.

Nearly a dozen other roads, such as Branciforte Drive in Santa Cruz and Rodeo Gulch Drive in Soquel, have been reduced to one lane, some by the same storms that triggered the Nelson Road rockslide.

"We're looking at how we can expedite all these projects," Presleigh said, pointing out that as a small county, Santa Cruz's share of gas-tax revenues is limited. "This poor little county doesn't have a lot of road funds."

State and federal emergency authorities rebuffed the county's request for disaster relief funding. Presleigh said the county is hoping to add to the $5 million in storm-related insurance money recovered so far, and the Federal Highway Administration is helping with projects on major arteries.

The Vine Hill washout is not only a headache for residents; it also serves as a reliever when Highway 17 is closed, and can be an access road to mountain wineries. But the week's rains undermined more than half the road, leaving a very narrow lane even if it was opened to one-lane traffic.